DART takes next steps to direct DFW Airport connection

Dallas Area Rapid Transit is making the final push to DFW Airport with the award of a design-build contract to construct a 5.2-mile extension of the Orange Line from the future Belt Line Station to the airport's Terminal A. A joint venture of Kiewit, Stacy and Witbeck, Reyes, Parsons (KSWRP) was selected by the DART Board of Directors to complete the $149,750,000 project known as Irving-3 (I-3).

Construction should begin in early 2012 and the I-3 section is scheduled to open on December 15, 2014. DFW Airport is building the Terminal A station. The first two sections of the Orange Line -- Bachman Station to Las Colinas Convention Center and then on to Belt Line Station at SH 161 and Belt Line on DFW Airport property -- will open July 30, 2012 and December 3, 2012, respectively. Those two sections are also being built by the KSWRP joint venture.

The project will be funded locally. However, because of its multi-modal nature (airport service, light rail and buses), DART is pursuing $130 million in federal funds under the TIGER III program which are aimed at multi-modal transportation projects. Receiving the federal funds could free up local dollars for other agency projects.

"So many people and agencies worked to bring I-3 forward," DART President/Executive Director Gary Thomas said. "We have benefited from the great support of the City of Irving and the tremendous cooperation of DFW Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Transportation Administration. We are ready to get to work."